Billfold

ABSTRACT

A billfold made from a single blank of leather to which lining may be attached. The blank is folded and stitched so as to provide a natural fold end product. A key factor in providing the result is that the blank is divided into two subpanels of unequal length and the blank is folded about the off-center line between the subpanels. The outer ends of the subpanels are brought into flush relationship and stitched to provide a belly on the outer subpanel and, thus, a natural fold.

[ May 13,1975

United States Patent [1 1 Margolis 1 BILLFOLD [76] Inventor: JosephMargolis, 500 E. 85th St.,

New York, NY. 10028 [22] Filed: Feb. 7, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 440,530

[52] U.S. Cl. 150/38 [51] Int. Cl. A4Sc 1/06 [58] Field of Search150/38. 39

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,211,533 l/l9l7 Bock 150/381,526,057 2/1925 Endus 150/38 1,840,212 l/l932 Rolfs 150/38 2,629,4192/1953 150/38 Primary Examiner-Herbert F 7 Ross Attorney, Agent, orFirm-Ryder, McAulay, Fields, Fisher & Goldstein [57] ABSTRACT A billfoldmade from a single blank of leather to which lining may be attached. Theblank is folded and stitched so as to provide a natural fold endproduct. A

- key factor in providing the result is that the blank is I a belly onthe outer subpanel and, thus, a natural fold.

8 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTS] HAY l 3 5 SHEEI 10F 2 IIILLFOLI)BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates in general to abillfold and to the one-piece blank from which it is made. Moreparticularly. this invention is in a simple, inexpensive, basic billfoldunit that can be employed as a billfold or that can be used as a basicunit to which additional pockets, tabs and purses can he added.

As in most practical products and certainly in most products forultimate consumer use. there is a continuing need for improvements thatreduce the cost of the end product.

Accordingly. it is a major purpose of this invention to provide a basicbillfold unit which will require a minimum use of material, which willreduce the amount of waste material and which will reduce the amount oflabor required.

It is important, however, that any such reduction in use of material andof labor be in the context of permitting and providing certain qualityfeatures such as a natural fold, a french edge and the provision forappropriate trimming. Accordingly, it is a further purpose of thisinvention to provide these features of economy without sacrificing thefeatures of quality and aesthetics that the customer expects andappreciates.

It is a further important purpose of this invention to provide the abovepurposes in a design that maintains the structural strength andintegrity available in presently known designs requiring greater amountsof material and labor.

It is a further purpose of this invention to provide these economies ina basic billfold design which has the capability of being enhanced bythe addition of further pockets, see-through card-carrying units,closure tabs and purse sections.

The structure and arrangement of billfolds is somewhat various. There isthe elongated rectangular wallet. There is the more square credit cardcase. There is the so called trifold type of design which actually hastwo folds and three sections. There is the secretary which is tallerthan it is wide. The advantages of any improvement in materials andmanpower efficiency will be greatest if the basic wallet design can beemployed for all such various billfold applications. Accordingly, it isan important purpose of this invention to provide the above-statedeconomies in a context that can be applied to single fold and dual foldend productsfas well to variations in size and configuration of bothsuch products.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In brief, this invention involves asingle blank of leather or the like to which a lining is attached andthen through the proper series of folds and stitchings provides an endproduct billfold. The initial blank is substantially rectangularnormally having lateraly (side) edges shorter than the longitudinaledges. The blank is preferably skived when stamped out along a lateralline parallel to the side edges and offset from center by about one-halfinch in a nine inch long blank. A lining is attached to one face of theblank by paste and stitching. More particularly, the lining is placed onthe blank after adhesive has been applied near the edges of the blank.The top longitudinal edge of the blank is folded over on the lining andstitched throughout. The bottom longitudinal edge of the blank is foldedover and stitched only at the zone corresponding to the belly of thecompleted billfold and the zone which will be facing the belly of thecompleted billfold. These two zones are approximately one quarter of thedistance from either side edge of the blank. The lateral edges of theblank are then turned over onto the lining but not sewn. The blank andlining are then folded along the lateral skive. The result of thisfolding is that two lateral edges of the blank will not overlie. Theselateral edges are then caused to overlie and are sewn together toprovide a french side edge for the end product billfold. The second sideedge of the billfold is the skived line. Because the distance from skiveto the two edges of the blank is different, the length of material fromskive edge to french edge along the back of the wallet is greater thanthe length of material from skive edge to french edge along the front ofthe wallet so that the back can belly out and thus provide a naturalfold. The bottom longitudinal edges of the blank are then sewn togetherexcept in the area of the belly. This, therefore, establishes the bellyat the place where the billfold is to be folded for final use. Theresult is the basic billfold product to which additional features may beadded.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows a blank-leather pieceafter being cut and skived for the manufacturing of a first embodimentof this invention.

FIG. 2 shows the FIG. l blank after the lining has been put in place,the top edge folded over and sewn, the bottom edge folded over andpartially sewn, and the side edges folded over.

FIG. 3 shows the completing steps of folding over the entire blank alonga vertical (lateral) skive line offset from center and then stitchingthe lateral edges to one another and stitching the bottom longitudinaledge of the two subpanesl to each other except in the area of the belly.FIG. 3 is a view of the inside of the completed billfold when opened.

FIG. 4 is a section along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a section through the belly along line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 shows a blank leather piece after being cut and skived for themanufacturing of a second emb0di-.

ment of the invention, specifically a billfold having two natural foldsand thus two belly areas.

FIG. 7 shows the FIG. 6 blank after the lining has been put in place,the top edge folded over and sewn, the bottom edge folded over andpartially sewn, and the side edges folded over.

FIG. 8 shows the completing steps for the second embodiment of foldingover the entire blank along a vertical skive line offset from center andthen stitching the lateral edges to one another and stitching the bottomlongitudinal edge of the two subpanels to each other except in the areaof two belly zones. FIG. 8 is a view of the inside of the completedbillfold when opened.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIGS. 1 through 5 illustrate afirst embodiment and FIGS. 6 through 8 illustrate a second embodiment.The difference between these two embodiments is only in that the firstembodiment is a billfold having a single natural fold while the secondembodiment is a billfold having two natural folds. The latter isfrequently called a trifold in the art, referring to the fact that ithas three sets of pockets when opened up but the folds are actually onlytwo in number. Because these two embodiments are so similar, the samereference numerals ared used in connection with the description of thoseembodiments to refer to corresponding parts and divergent referencenumerals are used only where the parts differ.

The FIG. 3 billfold 10 is made from the single blank 12 shown in FIG. 1.The larger subpanel l4 constitutes the outer surface 14 of the billfoldl and the smaller subpanel 16 constitutes the inner surface 16 of thebillfold 10. These two subpanels l4 and 16 are stitched together in sucha fashion as to provide the belly 18 in the finished billfold so thatthe billfold will have a natural fold. The term natural fold refers tothe easy way in which the billfold can be folded at the belly zonebecause the beelied-out area 18 at the outer subpanel 14 provides theadditional length that the outer subpanel 14 needs over the innersubpanel 16 when the billfold 10 is folded.

FIG. 1 illustrates the initial form of the blank or pattern 12 after ithas been stamped out and skived. A lateral skive line 20 is displacedfrom the lateral center line thereby defining a larger subpanel 14 and asmaller subpanel 16. In a typical case, where the pattern 12 is eighteeninches long, the skive 20 was three-sixteenths of an inch off of centerline thereby providing a subpanel 14 that was three-eighths of an inchlonger than the subpanel 16. A plurality of line cuts 22 on the smallersubpanel 16 are located, as desired, to define the entrance into variouspockets in the final billfold 10.

As shown in FIG. 2, a lining 24 is laid over the blank 12 and all fouredges of the blank 12 are turned over the lining 24. In manufacture, thearea around the edges of the blank 12 has a glue laid on it so that whenthe edges are turned over they will stick to the lining 24 for assemblypurposes. The entire turned over upper edge 26 of the blank 12 isstitched to the lining 24 and small portions 27, 28 along the lower edgeof the folded-over blank 12 are stitched to the lining 24.

The next step in fabricating the wallet of this invention is to fold theblank 12 at the skive line 20 then bring over the outer lateral edge 30of the smaller subpanel 16 so that it is flush with the outer lateraledge 31 of the larger subpanel 14. These two edges are then stitchedtogether to provide the resultant edge 32 of the billfold 10. Thebillfold 10 will thus have two lateral edges, one the edge 32 which is afrench edge in that the material is folded internally and thus the edgeseen by the user is a neat, smooth, turned edge. The other edge of thebillfold 10 is formed by the skive line 20 which preferably is stitchedpartly for appearances and partly to assure that the fold at the skive20 holds. The bottom longitudinal edge 34 of the billfold is nextstitched which in effect means stitching the bottom longitudinal edge ofthe subpanel 14 to the bottom longitudinal edge of the subpanel 16.However, the stitching of the bottom longitudinal edges of the subpanelsis not throughout the entire length of this longitudinal edge but onlyalong a distance extending in from the two lateral edges 30, 31 of thebillfold to the belly area 18. The result is a basic billfold 10 designwhich can now function as a billfold as such and to which variousadditional pockets, purses, tabs, etc., can be added as desired.

One of the advantages of the above design and arrangement is the abilityto provide in a very simple and inexpensive fashion the desirable frenchedge 32. However, it must be understood that in its simplest embodimentthe edges of the blank 12 need not be turned in on the lining 24 andthus when folded over, a raw edge (not shown) might be provided. It isjust that, by use of this invention, a french edge can be provided atminimal cost.

FIGS. 6 through 8 illustrate a second embodiment that also has a largersubpanel l4 and a shorter subpanel 16 separated by a skive line 20 whichis offset from the center line. Cut-out areas 40 are an alternate to theline cuts 22 shown in FIG. 1 to provide pocket access areas. As shown inFIG. 7, all four edges of the blank are turned over the lining and theupper edge 26 stitched throughout. However, in this embodiment, alongthe lower edge 34, there are four small areas 42, 43, 44 and 45 whichare stitched. The FIG. 7 intermediate product is then folded along theskive line 20 and the lateral edges 30, 31 brought over flush andstitched to form the french edge 32. The bottom edges of the twosubpanels 14 and 16 are then stitched together except in the areas ofthe two belly zones 18. More specifically, the stitching 46 along thebottom edge of the wallet may overlap slightly with the stitching atareas 42, 43, 44 and 45, but the stitching 46 does not run through thetwo subpanels 14, 16 at the belly zones 18. Thus, at the belly zones 18,it is the stitching at areas 42, 43, 44 and 45, shown in FIG. 7, whichhold the turned over bottom edge of the blank 12 to the lining 24. Againpreferably, the skive edge 20 is stitched for looks and to assure thatthe turn at the skive 20 properly holds.

What is claimed is:

1. A natural fold billfold comprising:

a substantially rectangular panel having a longitudinal length and alateral width,

said panel having a lateral fold line, said fold line separating a firstsubstantially rectangular subpanel and a second substantiallyrectangular subpanel, the longitudinal distance of said second subpanelbeing greater than the longitudinal distance of said first subpanel,

the lateral edge of said first subpanel most removed from said fold lineand the lateral edge of said second subpanel most removed from said foldline being joined to each other providing a joined edge,

a longitudinal edge of said first subpanel being joined to thecorresponding longitudinal edge of said second subpanel along a firstdistance extending less than halfway from said joined edge to said foldline and along a second distance extending less than halfway from saidfold line to said joined edge, at least one unjoined distance inwards ofsaid first and second distances being sufficient to accommodate anddefine at least one belly zone for said second and longer subpanelproviding at least one natural fold when said second subpanel is foldedas the outer surface of a billfold.

2. The billfold of claim 1 wherein:

said lateral fold line is a skived line.

3. The billfold of claim 1 wherein:

said joined edge is a french edge.

4. The billfold of claim 2 wherein:

said joined edge is a french edge.

5. The billfold of claim 1 wherein:

said first distance extends less than one-third of the way from saidjoined edge to said fold line said second distance extends less thanone-third of the way from said fold line to said joined edge,

said joined longitudinal edges of said subpanels being further joinedalong a third distance in both directions from the center of each ofsaid joined longitudinal edges of said subpanels, said third distancebeing less than the distance between the inward ends of said first andsecond distances,

the unjoined distance between the closest ends of said first and thirddistances and the unjoined distance between the closest ends of saidsecond and said joined edge is a french edge.

1. A natural fold billfold comprising: a substantially rectangular panelhaving a longitudinal length and a lateral width, said panel having alateral fold line, said fold line separating a first substantiallyrectangular subpanel and a second substantially rectangular subpanel,the longitudinal distance of said second subpanel being greater than thelongitudinal distance of said first subpanel, the lateral edge of saidfirst subpanel most removed from said fold line and the lateral edge ofsaid second subpanel most removed from said fold line being joined toeach other providing a joined edge, a longitudinal edge of said firstsubpanel being joined to the corresponding longitudinal edge of saidsecond subpanel along a first distance extending less than halfway fromsaid joined edge to said fold line and along a second distance extendingless than halfway from said fold line to said joined edge, at least oneunjoined distance inwards of said first and second distances beingsufficient to accommodate and define at least one belly zone for saidsecond and longer subpanel providing at least one natural fold when saidsecond subpanel is folded as the outer surface of a billfold.
 2. Thebillfold of claim 1 wherein: said lateral fold line is a skived line. 3.The billfold of claim 1 wherein: said joined edge is a french edge. 4.The billfold of claim 2 wherein: said joined edge is a french edge. 5.The billfold of claim 1 wherein: said first distance extends less thanone-third of the way from said joined edge to said fold line said seconddistance extends less than one-third of the way from said fold line tosaid joined edge, said joined longitudinal edges of said subpanels beingfurther joined along a third distance in both directions from the centerof each of said joined longitudinal edges of said subpanels, said thirddistance being less than the distance between the inward ends of saidfirst and second distances, the unjoined distance between the closestends of said first and third distances and the unjoined distance betweenthe closest ends of said second and third distance being sufficient toaccommodate and define first and second belly zones for said second andlonger subpanel providing two natural folds when said second subpanel isfolded as the outer surface of a dual fold billfold.
 6. The billfold ofclaim 5 wherein: said lateral fold line is a skived line.
 7. Thebillfold of claim 5 wherein: said joined edge is a french edge.
 8. Thebillfold of claim 6 wherein: said joined edge is a french edge.